Gu Yuzhi glanced at Xie Changshi without making it obvious, feeling a little guilty.

Xie Changshi said last time that he didn't have much of a foothold in the Northern Desert, while Li Ji Trading Company was considered a local power in the Northern Desert. They had better not push Li Ji Trading Company into a corner, otherwise they would both suffer losses.

Gu Yuzhi understood that even a rabbit will bite when cornered, let alone the fact that Li's Trading Company was backed by the Prince of Chu...

Therefore, they never considered competing with Li's Trading Company for salt permits.

Gu Yuzhi spoke in a low voice, and then Manager Wen nodded and said, "I know that Chief Secretary Xie does not intend to take the salt permits, but just because we do not intend to does not mean that other merchants do not."

"Although the northern desert is poor, there are still many wealthy merchants. These local wealthy merchants have seen their assets shrink many times over the years due to the suppression by Li Ji Trading Company. Does Your Highness think these local wealthy merchants want revenge?"

No sooner had Manager Wen finished speaking than Chief Secretary Xie said, "Your Highness, I have a plan to use someone else's strength against them."

Gu Yuzhi slowly turned his head to look at Xie Changshi, who said, "The wealthy merchants in the northern deserts have been unable to purchase salt permits due to a lack of channels. We can have Guard Shen contact powerful merchants, have His Highness act as a go-between to purchase the salt permits, and then have our escort agency escort them back to the northern deserts."

"I believe that with Your Highness's leadership, these scattered merchant guilds will be able to unite quickly."

These wealthy merchants couldn't possibly be unaware of what having a salt certificate represented.

Furthermore, merchants are driven by profit. Compared to the enormous profits, what's wrong with Li's Trading Company? Who isn't a local tyrant entrenched in the northern desert?

Good grief, what do you call this? I schemed against you, and you still willingly give me money?

Manager Wen, who prided himself on being a ruthless businessman, fell silent upon hearing what Chief Secretary Xie said.

He now finally understood what Teacher Shu meant when she said, "You schemers all have dirty hearts..."

However, this Chief Secretary Xie is a talented person. Despite having no prior experience in commerce, he was able to think on the same page as him.

Gu Yuzhi's gaze lingered on Xie Changshi for a moment, then he suddenly pursed his lips and secretly smiled. He said he had learned something about using someone else's strength against them.

He immediately raised his little hand and said, "Chief Secretary Xie, Chief Secretary Xie, if we do this, won't the attention of Li's Trading Company be diverted to these other trading companies, making our Wen's Trading Company safer?"

Gu Yuzhi was never ashamed to talk about his weakness; on the contrary, he was quite self-assured, after all, he really was small.

He snorted, and thinking of Li Yanping's furious reaction to not getting the salt permits, Gu Yuzhi said smugly, "Then we need to carefully select which merchants have the strength."

First, you need to be rich; second, you need to be unafraid of retaliation from Li Ji Trading Company.

If we go ahead and investigate without doing anything, what if Li Ji Trading Company retaliates and he immediately exposes us?

Although he wasn't afraid, Chief Secretary Xie often said that it's better to avoid trouble...

Gu Yuzhi scratched his head: "Then let's find Prefect Qi first to screen out suitable merchants?"

Over the past year, Gu Yuzhi has become very proficient at the process of seeking help from Prefect Qi whenever he has a need.

Shu Xiaohan couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Prefect Qi, that old tool, I'm afraid he gets a headache just seeing the young prince now."

Gu Yuzhi pouted, indicating her disapproval: "Prefect Qi won't have a headache; he's overjoyed to see me. Don't think I don't know; he doesn't want Li's Trading Company to dominate the Northern Desert either!"

He's very clever; Prefect Qi won't be fooled.

Shu Xiaohan nodded repeatedly: "The young prince is right, of course Prefect Qi likes you."

Who wouldn't love such an adorable, intelligent, and sensible little prince?

Shu Xiaohan thought for a moment and said, "Young Prince, why don't you have Guard Shen establish a Northern Desert Merchants Association? Any merchant firm that participated in purchasing salt permits this time can join the Northern Desert Merchants Association."

Chamber of Commerce?

Wen Xiuzhu frowned slightly; this was something new that he had never encountered before.

Shu Xiaohan glanced at him and explained, "The Chamber of Commerce is equivalent to your merchant guild."

Wen Xiuzhu then understood, and pondered the words "chamber of commerce," thinking that establishing a chamber of commerce was a good idea.

He continued, "Teacher Shu is right. Wen's Trading Company can take the lead in establishing the Mobei Trading Company."

It's impossible for the Wen family business to be involved in every industry. Furthermore, as more and more land is reclaimed in Xinliang, the quantity and variety of agricultural products will also increase.

It's impossible to make Xin Liang famous with just one Wen family.

Moreover, members of the chamber of commerce help each other, and everyone does their best to help whoever is in trouble.

Given the special status of the young prince and the actions of the owner behind Li Ji Trading Company, Manager Wen felt that the young prince might actually need the help of the members of the trading company someday.

Thinking of this, Wen Xiuzhu emphasized again: "Your Highness, I believe that the establishment of the Chamber of Commerce is urgent. Please make sure that Chief Secretary Xie comes up with a specific procedure and implements it as soon as possible."

Manager Wen had always seemed unhurried, always waving his fan as if he had everything under control, no matter what happened. This was the first time he had used words like "must" or "as soon as possible."

Gu Yuzhi thought of the merchant guilds that Teacher Shu had mentioned earlier, his big eyes darting around for a while before he said, "Master Xie, since we're going to be working with these merchants anyway, why don't we form a merchant guild? The merchants who got the salt permits together this time will be members. If Li Yanping really causes us trouble, these merchants will feel bad not helping us."

Merchant guilds, as the name suggests, are meant to help each other.

There are so many businesses in the northern desert, they can't be the only one being targeted by Li's Business!

Chief Secretary Xie's eyes lit up, clearly indicating that he also thought this was feasible.

Although he was very shrewd, he didn't really understand the business world. His contact with these merchants in Mobei was also out of a desire to take revenge on Li's Merchants.

Merchant groups...

Chief Secretary Xie decided to have a good talk with Manager Yu and the others to find out exactly what was going on.

"I will have someone summon Manager Yu and the others immediately."

The matter of salt permits is urgent, and if we really want to interfere, we must contact the owners of these merchants as soon as possible.

Most importantly, we must keep it a secret from the people at Li's Trading Company.

In the end, we still need to find Prefect Qi. At least when we first make contact, we need to know which employers are reliable!

Without Gu Yuzhi urging him, Chief Secretary Xie busied himself with arranging matters for the merchant guild. After agreeing on a time with Prefect Qi, he went to find Shen Yu'an to arrange the testing of the deputy general.

Because of the urgency of these two matters, everyone in the Wen family was immediately busy, and the previously agreed trip to Xinliang was thus delayed.

Just then, Marshal Huo had almost recovered and was in much better spirits than before, so Gu Yuzhi simply used all his spare time to study military strategy. Even on snowy nights, he was taken to Xinliang by Guard Qi.